Dunfermline Athletic figurehead Bob Garmory believes the club’s owners remain realistic when it comes to the revenue they can expect from crowds coming to East End Park this season.
The fan-led Pars United consortium is continuing to work with administrators BDO to formally take the club out of administration in the coming weeks, although they already know the size of the task ahead of them in trying to makeDunfermline Athletic Football Club sustainable when they do take control.
Balancing the books is Pars United’s number one priority following years of financial mismanagement and, although two visits from Rangers in the league are likely to boost the coffers, Garmory is aware that is likely to be offset by lower crowds throughout the League One campaign.
“There are still a lot of things to deal with and making ends meet is going to be the big thing for the next season or so,” he said.
“There will obviously be commitments to the playing side and the under-20s, but we also realise that our crowds are going to be in the area that we expected.
“We’re not going to get the 4,000-odd we got at the end of last season or indeed the 3,000-odd we got against Arbroath this season every week.
“Obviously we would love to but we’ve really got to find a way of cutting our costs and managing our business.
“We’re no different from any other football club in that respect but it’s a long haul.
“The fans have been tremendous and I think, once we can get our feet under the table, it will be a lot easier to talk to the fans about how to move this club forward.”
Rallying calls at the tail end of last season saw attendances at East End Park rise to well over 4,000 and indeed to 5,110 for the second leg of their play-off final with Alloa.
Similar efforts for the friendly against Hearts and the opening home league game against Arbroath also boosted numbers, while the sale of more than 1,700 season tickets matched last season’s numbers and surpassed expectations.
However, Pars United have factored lower-than-average crowd figures into their estimations and realise September could be a difficult month, with Airdrieonians and Ayr United unlikely to bring sizeable supports to Fife for their league fixtures.
The crowd for the most recent game against Stranraer was more than 600 down on that achieved for the Arbroath match, and Garmory reckons the club have a lot of work to do to not only build the Pars fan base but also to maximise the income that stems from those supporters.
He added: “We’ve already got things lined up so we can start work on refurbishments to some of the facilities at East End Park so that people want to stay in the stadium beyond 2.45pm to 4.45pm.”